Will move SC against Naidu's order: Congress

Hours after Rajya Sabha Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu rejected the impeachment motion against Chief Justice of India (CJI) Dipak Misra, the Congress dubbed the order unprecedented, illegal, ill-advised and hasty and that it will be challenged in the Supreme Court.

"We will certainly move a petition in the Supreme Court to challenge the order of the Rajya Sabha Chairman. We will ensure the CJI has nothing to do with this petition," senior Congress leader Kapil Sibal told reporters here.

Sibal said never before in the history of independent India had a motion moved by Members of Parliament been dismissed at the preliminary stage itself. The charges levelled in the impeachment motion could only be verified through an inquiry, he said.

"It seems this government is very keen that this must not be allowed to be inquired into," he said, rejecting Naidu's contention that the petitioners against the CJI were "unsure of their own case".

"The order has shattered the confidence of the people and jeopardised the legal system," said Sibal, who helmed the initiative to move an impeachment motion against the CJI.

CPM general secretary Sitaram Yechury said the "hasty dismissal" of the impeachment notice given by the MPs of seven parties was "blatantly illegal and unconstitutional".

"Opposition parties will take recourse to all means to ensure that India's Constitution is protected and implemented in its true spirit," Yechury said.

Congress chief spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala said Rajya Sabha Chairman cannot adjudge the motion as he has no mandate to decide the merits of the motion.

Surjewala also accused Finance Minister Arun Jaitley of "virtually dictating the verdict to the Rajya Sabha Chairman" by dubbing the impeachment motion submitted by 64 members of the Upper House of Parliament as a "revenge petition".

"Has 'revenge petition' now become 'rescue order'," asked the Congress leader and insisted that the Rajya Sabha Chairman cannot decide on the petition's merits in the absence of quasi-judicial or administrative power.

The Congress contended that if all charges were to be proved before inquiry as Naidu has suggested, the Constitution & Judges (Inquiry) Act would have no relevance.